After starting in 18 of his 21 games in his career, the Cincinnati Reds moved Ricky Karcher to the bullpen in 2021. He would spend some time on the injured list in the middle of the season, but posted a 3.95 ERA in 27 games that covered 27.1 innings while striking out 48 batters but also walking 39 of them.
This article was first sent out to those who support the site over on Patreon. Early access is one of the perks that you could get be joining up as a Patron and supporting the work done here at RedsMinorLeagues.com.
Despite walking 30 batters in 19.1 innings in 2021 with High-A Dayton, the Reds opted to move Ricky Karcher up to Double-A Chattanooga to begin the 2022 season. The right-handed reliever had a good month of April, though he still walked too many batters, as he posted a 2.45 ERA in 7.1 innings that saw him walk five and strike outs 16. May wasn’t as kind as the struggles with control showed up as he handed out 10 free passes in 8.0 innings, but not allowing a home run and striking out 13 batters helped keep his ERA at a quality 3.38 for the month.
When June rolled around for Ricky Karcher the control was still hit-and-miss. He walked six batters in 9.2 innings while striking out 13, not allowing a home run, and posting a 3.72 ERA in eight games with the Lookouts over the first four weeks. Then at the end of the month Cincinnati moved him up to Triple-A Louisville. The first month with Louisville was a struggle as he allowed six runs in 8.2 innings (6.23 ERA) while giving up two home runs, walking six batters, and striking out 13. The following month wasn’t much better as he posted a 5.79 ERA with seven walks in 9.1 innings while striking out 14.
Over the final month of the season, though, he turned things around for the Bats. Karcher would pitch in 13 games and allow just two earned runs in 13.2 innings (1.32 ERA), walk just six batters, not allow a home run, and he struck out 19. Over the final 11 games of the season he had a single walk in just three games, closing out the year on a high note.
For all 2022 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).
Ricky Karcher Scouting Report
Position: Right-handed pitcher | B/T: R/R
Height: 6′ 4″ | Weight: 230 lbs | Acquired: 13th Round, 2017 Draft
Born: September 18, 1997
Fastball | A plus offering that works in the upper 90’s.
Slider | An above-average offering with good biting action that works in the upper 80’s.
Change Up | A third offering that doesn’t get used much that works in the low 90’s.
With two above-average to better offerings to go along with a change up he can use against lefties, Ricky Karcher undoubtedly has the stuff to succeed in the big leagues. But with 128 walks in 143.1 career innings he also has a huge red flag on his resume that he’s going to have to really improve upon.
During the 2022 season he had his best walk rate of his career and he still walked 6.4 batters per 9-innings pitched. Pitchers simply can’t get away with that against big leaguers in the long run. We’ve seen guys get away with it in a single season, particularly out of the bullpen, but without improvement they eventually start giving up plenty of runs. In September he walked three batters and had 17 strikeouts in 11.2 innings with Louisville. If that was a step forward and not just a blip on the radar then things could get interesting rather quickly. But given his long, long history of struggling to throw strikes, caution is warranted on that one.
Video
Interesting Stat on Ricky Karcher
He pitched in seven games that fell on a Tuesday and didn’t give up a run in any of them, covering 7.2 innings with three walks and 11 strikeouts.